Single-serve beverages have become increasingly popular in the last few years. While concentrated drink mixes have been available to consumers for years, more recently, products providing hot, filtered coffee and tea from a single-serve container are becoming increasingly popular. These products are often produced using a machine that can pierce the single-serve container at the top and bottom, and then feed hot water through the container to create the hot beverage.
One type of single-serve container is as simple as providing a concentrate in a container or sleeve with only enough concentrate for a single use. The concentrate, which most often come in a dry powder or granular form, can then be manually mixed with hot water to create the hot beverage. Such containers have several disadvantages, including lower quality taste and the need for a separate device to provide boiling or hot water.
Powders and other concentrates are also available to provide cold drinks. These products are also available in single-serve and multiple serving sized containers. The products typically come in a dry powder, but liquid concentrates are also available. However, these products are undesirable because after manual mixing with water, the concentrate is often left incompletely or non-uniformly distributed, negatively affecting taste and texture.
A third type of self-serve container is the KEURIG® type capsule that is made to be used in a specific machine. The capsules contain concentrate, tea, or coffee grounds and have a filter at the outlet end. The machine punctures these single-serving containers at the top and bottom, then water flows through the capsule to make the beverage. This type of container requires the machine to mechanically puncture the capsule, which may be unsanitary. Also, the KEURIG® type of single-serving container does not guarantee good mixing control or sealing between the device and the capsule.